Visit with Don (aka The General) on various land use issues. Find out what he thinks about current topics related to recreation, land use or the environment.

Tuesday, March 10, 2009

Ask Congress to Support H.R. 968 to Address CPSC Ban of Youth OHVs

The General has a favorite saying regarding federal regulations pertaining to OHV recreation and that motto is: “All land-use [including CPSC’s ban] decisions are political decisions.”

Unfortunately, the CPSC’s reluctance to use common sense and issue a stay on its ban on youth-OHVs has proved that theory. Since it is now a political issue, users must turn to Congress for help with a political solution.

The good news is that many of you have written, or made personal visits, to your Member of Congress asking for help.

Because of your letters and phone calls, Congressman John Shadegg has sponsored H.R 968 to address CPSC’s refusal to grant a stay.

The General is asking all of his troops nationwide to contact their Member of Congress and ask them to support Congressman Shadegg (see text of email below) and join with Congressman Herger and other representatives and co-sponsor H.R. 968

Go to Cong. Shadegg's Website and click on the "Sponsored legislation" link

Thank you for contacting me to express your concerns regarding the Consumer Product Safety Improvement Act (CPSIA) and its inadvertent ban on the sale of youth model off-highway vehicles (OHVs). I appreciate hearing from you and while the safety of consumer products - especially those intended for children - is of the utmost priority, please know that I share your concerns on this issue.

Off-highway vehicle use is a popular and important recreational activity enjoyed by all ages, particularly in our Northern California area. For this reason, I joined several of my Western colleagues in Congress in sending a letter to the Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC) to express our support for the petition filed by the powersports industry requesting temporary exclusions under this regulation. I have attached a copy of that letter for your review. Unfortunately, the CPSC did not grant this stay by the February 10th effective date.

However, I will continue to closely monitor this issue and will keep your views in my mind as I do so. I also intend to cosponsor H.R. 968, a bill introduced by Rep. Shadegg to amend the CPSIA in order to address these and other unintended consequences of the law.

Again, thank you for taking the time to share your thoughts with me. Please don't hesitate to do so in the future regarding this or any other federal issue important to you. In addition, I would like to invite you to visit my website at www.house.gov/herger where you can find additional information on my position on a variety of issues and sign up for occasional email updates on various federal issues.

Learn About The General

Don is owner of Quiet Warrior Racing, a recreation, land-use, and political consulting company. Don is also a consultant to the BlueRibbon Coalition and serves as their western representative. Don has over 23 years in the field of recreation and land-use advocacy. Don served as a commissioner on the California Department of Parks and Recreation Off-Highway Motor Vehicle Recreation Commission from 1994-2000. Don has also served on many recreation stakeholder groups and advisory committees. Don served on the USDA Region 5 Recreation Resource Advisory Committee (2009 - 2014). Don has a BA from St. Mary’s College of California and belongs to the Society of Outdoor Recreation Professionals.